The Journey of a Thousand Miles
by Tomcat319
Summary: Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. During the next 100 years, four warriors, one from each nation, formed one of the first rebellions of the war under The Order of the White Lotus.
1. Chapter 1 - Clouds Into Storms

The temple stood huge, unwelcoming and cold against the edges of snowy, jagged mountains. With towers matching the height of condors, an unlucky traveler may have confused its appearance with that of a palace for an unlawful king. A place seemingly so invisible and frozen, one would not stop to ponder the possibility of warm life in the shadows of its halls.

But life there was.

A single window of one of its towers, hidden by the reaching beams and walls of the grand temple, reached its light into the darkness of the night, allowing a sweet aroma of the mountains outdoors to flow into the building.

"The mind leads the body and controls the breath, and in turn, the breath calms the mind."

Inhale. Exhale.

The young boy stood silent in the center of the room. Hips tucked, feet firmly planted to the ground. Both hands formed into fists, touching knuckles near the center of his chest.

"Uncover the motion of the unclean energy in the stillness,"

Stance requires concentration, discipline. The young man shifted his feet slightly, balancing his stance with the ground, rooting himself and finding equilibrium. Connect with the energy of the air. He breathed in deeply, his body swayed slightly.

"Let go of negative thoughts, cleanse the mind with the energy of the earth."

 _Inhale. Exhale._

The wind from the night howled through the wooden shutters.

He crinkled his nose, eyebrows creasing with the indentation of uneasiness.

 _Keep concentration..._

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. He's entire body was tremulous, sweaty due to the strain of keeping the balance of his stance.

 _Ignore the influence of negative energy. Concentrate on your breathing._ He told himself

The boy opened his eyes and stepped back into a relaxed stance, arms circled in front of him.

In annoyance, he rubbed his tired eyes in circles. The night outside of his window seemed to mock him. If only the other recruits could see him now. Having been deemed the laziest airbender out of all the new recruits for his habit of dozing off in the middle of teachings, he boasted that he could sleep more than any other monk in the temple...much to the irritation of Master Monk Guan.

Until now, that is.

If it was normal insomnia, he would have meditated or trained until exhaustion pulled him back to sleep. But there was something tugging on his mind, poking and prodding him to restless pacing. Something that caused his stomach drop to soles of his feet as an abnormal film of cold crept up his back and his arms.

 _A war was coming._

The young boy fell back onto his bed with a tired sight and glanced out of his window where the snowy mountains disappeared into the distance, his eyes lost and searching. He had overheard the Council of Elders discussing with Master Monk Guan about the oncoming war and that a young monk from the Southern Air Temple named Aang would assume his position as Avatar to prevent the Fire Nation from enacting destruction on any of the nations.

Despite this, the sinking, suffocating feeling in his chest wouldn't go away. He knew that the Fire Nation did not have the means of transport to come to any of the air temples, but if the Fire Nation were to attack...

He shuddered. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen next.

He clenched his eyes closed, furiously hitting his forehead with a fist and growled in frustration, digging his nails into the palm of his hand. He raked through his brain, many thoughts and theories developed in his mind, trying to get a mental grasp of his situation. Or at least the situation of the temple.

Grasping his fingers into fists, turning them white. He shot up from his place on the bed and marched his way across the room before throwing the door of his bedroom open and running down the hallways.

With each step, the hallways seemed to stretch longer and longer. For once, he was scared. Scared for himself, his friends, the temple. A gnawing, endless anxiety that fueled his legs as he slid through the corridors and hallways of the large temple. His mind searched for the room of the Elder monks, his feet tapping effortlessly and quietly against the smooth marble walkways. He didn't even know if his words could even convince the Council to take action, but he _needed_ to talk to somebody. He needed answers.

He was not nearly halfway across the temple when a familiar figure popped into his view and he slowed his feet to a stop.

"Raimundo?"

Master Monk Guan towered over him, lifting an eyebrow as Raimundo quickly straightened his posture.

"Yes, Master Monk Guan?"

"Why are you awake at this hour? You have early training in the morning, young monk."

Raimundo let out a slow, shaky sigh, filling the cold and silent hallway with noise. "I heard you talking with the Council," He said lowly, "Why aren't we preparing for war? We should have the entire temple lit up, all the masters awake, the Council discussing strategies!"

The Master Monk sighed and set a hand on Raimundo's shoulder, "No. We cannot let ourselves be consumed by negative energies. Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."

"But Master, we must fight. We should fight to protect this temple, all the temples! Our culture!"

"Enough!" His voice cut through the looming silence of the hallways.

Raimundo fearfully flinched at the mention of his own name and quickly bowed his head, squeezing his eyes as Master Monk Guan stood over him.

"If you must fight," The Master Monk began, "Fight for your belief in the Avatar, recognize him as a beacon of hope as he will tame the negative energies between the four nations. Believe that he will stop the Fire Nation."

Raimundo said nothing, hanging his head in defeat, his clenched fists falling to his sides and dragging his entire body down with them.

"Now," Master Monk Guan began, "Let us get you to your room. I am sure that your lack of sleep has confused your judgement." He said, placing a guiding hand against Raimundo's back.

The sounds of their footsteps reverberated through the hallways and back into his ears. For some reason, the echoes produced a haunting metronome that fed his melancholy. Perhaps it _was_ his lack of sleep that hindered his judgement. However, that revelation did not stop the frustration and sadness that was quickly growing within himself.

He had thought of escaping to the Earth Kingdom where he could form his own rebellion against the Fire Nation. But that idea soon disappeared when he and Master Monk Guan arrived at the open door of his bedroom.

The words of his Master soon faded and blurred with each step Raimundo traveled to his bed.

The second his head flopped onto the pillow, the darkness of sleep encased him and he left the world to dreams.

However, it only felt like a fraction of a second before Raimundo shot his eyes open.

Morning light was peering through his window where darkness had come before. He sat up in bed wondering briefly why he was not woken up for his lateness before he heard the commotion and panic outside.

Color drained from Raimundo's face as he quickly shook himself out of bed and ran for the door, a rock weighing heavily on his chest like the dread he had felt last night.

He threw the door open, watching with unease as all the monks flooded throughout the hallways, tripping down the stairs in different directions.

Quickly, Raimundo grabbed the arm of a young monk as he ran by, sobbing.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Raimundo asked frantically, having not realized that he was practically shrieking at the boy over the sounds of the panicked monks.

The boy sniffed as huge blobs of salty tears rolled down the sides of his face.

"The Avatar is missing!"

* * *

A/N: When Master Monk Guan says: "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."

This is a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


	2. Chapter 2 - Memory

"It's already been a month and the scouts still cannot find him?!"

Raimundo stood dazed with the other young airbenders huddled together in the corner of one of the Elder's rooms. All of the new recruits had been rounded up and corralled into a tiny cramped area that was heavily guarded by a few of the Airbending Masters. However, they were not there for protection, only there to ensure that none of the young would escape in fear.

It was an accident, really, that the news of the missing Avatar had spread like wind throughout the entire temple. One of the younger monks, Ren, had accidentally obtained the message scroll from a sky bison that had flown from the Southern Air Temple. The message was originally meant for the Council, but the exhausted bison was too tired and hungry from its four week flight halfway across the world, to care. Curious to see what the message was, Ren opened the scroll and immediately shared his knowledge to every monk he met on the wind, which of course ensued chaos.

Different than most of the airbender brats who lived at the Northern Air Temple, Ren was a good kid. Or so Raimundo had heard from Master Monk Guan. The poor kid was lectured to tears once the Masters had learned of his mistake, and thus, the _only_ reasonable action was to secure all the young benders into a confined area as the Council used the next _years,_ as it felt to Raimundo, in deciding what to do next.

And of course this meant: no bending, no talking, no eating and _certainly_ , no asking questions _._

Hours of fun, that was.

But at the least, Raimundo thought, he could hear the old wise ones wasting time and bickering to each other in the next room over for their next plan.

"How could the Southern Council let this happen? I thought that the Eastern Air Temple was going to take care of him?!"

"The Masters have formed a team to search for the Avatar, they will find him soon. Do not worry, Monk Zheng."

"It will be the Fire Nation who finds him first!" Master Monk Feng shouted, slamming his fist against the table.

Master Monk Guan placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose, "What matters most is what will become of this temple and the young ones. The arrival of the Great Comet may play a part in Firelord Sozin's plans."

Master Monk Zheng scoffed, "The Great Comet only passes through the sky once every hundred years, there is no significance. We have more important matters to be concerned about!"

"In the past, there are texts of firebenders harnessing the energy of this comet and strengthening their power and fire. We do not know when this exact date is but we need to at least prepare." Silence quickly permeated the room as Master Monk Guan stood from his seat.

"Furthermore, this is the temple where the newly recruited airbenders live. Where do you think the Fire Nation would strike first?"

Not one monk in the circle of elders dared to breathe. The room was filled to the brim with suffocating and solemn silence.

"Then...we have no choice." The Elder monks looked toward the end of the circle with wide eyes as Master Monk Lan slowly rose from the table. "Ever since Avatar Roku passed away, it has been known across the world that the new Avatar will be born as an Air Nomad. No doubt that the Firelord knows of this and there is no doubt that he will launch some kind of attack against us."

"What do you propose we do, Monk Lan?"

The monk sighed, "We must send the young ones away and notify the other Elder councils to do so as well." He said gravely.

"After we have ensured their safety, we will decide what to do next."

Raimundo froze and backed away from the wall. _Leave?_

"But I want to stay and fight." He found himself saying.

He struggled out of the crowded room, desperately pushing and shoving the little ones in his path as he eyed for the door ahead of him. His trekking was soon stopped by the concerned Masters guarding the door. They grabbed him by the arms as Raimundo hung helplessly against his will, kicking and scratching at the ones holding him, stretching and straining his arm as he reached for the wooden door out of his reach.

"Let me go! I want to fight!" He choked out through tensed jaws.

With a strangled cry, he clenched his fingers into his fists and tried to forcefully pull his arms free. Was there no sane reason to his limitless guilt as much as the endless anxiety he had created for himself? Was there no answer to his fighting? No meaning? Why was he being carried off like a child?

He briefly remembered Master Monk Guan's meaning to non violence, which caused him to thrash even more against his captors. "This is my home too! Not fighting is the same thing as doing nothing!"

Suddenly, the door of the Elders swung open and Raimundo shot his eyes open, momentarily freezing his fighting as the Masters released his sore arms. Before him, stood Master Monk Guan, his expression flickering from anger to sadness.

"You will leave within the week. Along with the other young nomads."

Raimundo felt the back of his eyes burn and his chest tighten as Master Monk Guan continued. "There is an Earth Kingdom refugee camp within a week's travel here. We will send messengers on sky bison to inform them of our situation and they will act as protective guides to your temporary sanctuary."

"You have a week to say goodbye."

Not one monk uttered a word. Raimundo watched silently as Master Monk Guan stiffly brushed past him to break the news to the rest of the young airbenders.

Raimundo fell to his knees as the new recruits were finally let out of the room, whispering to each other as they eyed him slumped against the floor. He heard a bit of their murmurs here and there, some believing that it was Raimundo's fault that the elders were sending them all away.

He didn't know what to think anymore.

He didn't know if it was the result of shock or anger, which he really didn't much care which one it was.

Raimundo sat still in the sunlight stone hallway, his hands reaching up from the place on his knees to solemnly cover his face. The Master monks were once again back in the council room discussing things. Their voices now low and whispering as Raimundo strained to hear them over the sound of the other young airbenders playing outside, blissfully unaware of what had occurred earlier. That's just how it was around here. No conflict. The chaos that had erupted before, now gone. No one seemed to care about an oncoming war anymore.

Just a bit of an actual conversation would have been nice. Someone who could understand where he was coming from and maybe draw up some kind of middle ground, instead of becoming singled out. Well, more than he already was, he guessed. He knew it was traditional for the Elders to turn the other cheek when it came to conflicts. He _knew_ and yet he still tried.

Maybe it was a mindset he picked up from growing up in a circus.

Raimundo had wanted to speak to Master Monk Guan again, but the door of the Elder's room hadn't been opened since that morning and Raimundo conceded, standing up from his place on the floor to concentrate on his thoughts elsewhere within the temple.

He had passed by a window and spotted the playing area where the new monks would spend most of their free time training. An open circular stone courtyard utilizing the Yin-Yang symbol to help new benders achieve a sense of balance of the mind and body. This would also illustrate the cyclical nature of Yin and Yang and all that it represents to further deepen one's spiritual understanding of peace and balance.

Near the center of this courtyard was a small group of little airbenders sitting close to one another with straight backs, looking up to their instructor, as far as Raimundo could see, Master Monk Yuen.

"...it is essential to build up the instinct to avoid and evade conflict as well as to follow the path of least resistance. Meditate on this, young ones. Not only must you physically incorporate this instinct into your body, you must construct this concept deep within your mind." The monk spoke, or as well as Raimundo could hear.

The words were familiar, but uncomparable to other lectures he had received from Master Monk Guan. Maybe all the Masters shared the same teaching scrolls, making stuff up as the lessons went on. Of course, Raimundo only remembered some lessons. If not none.

Still. It was strange, how one word could bring it all back. His old teachings, that came with discipline. Memories that gave him a familiar cold sting that struck him at the oddest and most inconvenient times.

 _Resistance._

The word brought all of it back.

In the past, Raimundo struggled with keeping the things that was important close to him. Well, not that it still wasn't an issue now. He was better than he used to be, or at least he thought he was until this morning. Still, Raimundo felt like he resisted it all, as if he was trying to fight against the wind itself, pushing him back farther and farther to a place he knew would bring his own downfall. Master Monk Guan sought to teach him to control this storm, to find inner focus and embrace the peaceful teachings of the temple to ease his tired soul. However, he had yet to calm the swirling uneasiness he felt inside of him.

Maybe it had to do with his upbringing.

His mother was an air nomad who had fled the Eastern Air temple in search of an exciting life. Growing up in a culture where the same routine was practiced every day may have been too much of a restrictive life, he guessed. Although, he knew where his mother was coming from.

His mother had married a nonbender in the Earth Kingdom, and from this grew a large family. However, in a family of nearly six, Raimundo was the only one who had distinguishable airbending talents. Feeling that he was receiving special treatment from mother, his siblings cast him out, treating him like an outsider until Raimundo ran away to join a travelling circus that was passing through his village.

He was barely six when the Air Nomads took him away from a place he could finally fit in. He strained his mind, trying to remember how the Masters had found him at that tiny, dirty circus, but that memory was elusive amidst the clouds surrounding his mountainous home.

Raimundo walked aimlessly around the temple, as the day's light faded to twilight, his mind drifting to faraway places of memories that were gone, forever. He could barely remember the faces of his parents or his siblings or the name of the village he grew up in. Some nights, like this one, he would miss them, but he knew they were still alive. Or at least he hoped.

All of the knowledge he'd known of his family was told by Master Monk Guan, who would only speak briefly of them before brushing the topic aside, which Raimundo understood. The Air Nomads were beyond the terms of blood family and Raimundo accepted and practiced their teachings. He had a feeling though, that his mother knew that he lived within the Northern Air Temple as Master Monk Guan would leave him random gifts filled with toys and small wooden figures. Only, Raimundo was only allowed to see them briefly before retreating the items back to the Elders, as monks do not possess any worldly items.

However, the only object that Raimundo ever kept, and allowed by Master Monk Guan, was a single, circular medallion, which hung from a thin cotton cord.

His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the dinner bell, which he ignored. He didn't really have much of an appetite and would rather much avoid the feasting hall entirely due to the embarrassing scene, as Raimundo admitted, he had displayed earlier that day. He groaned, what kind of airbender was he?

His eyes flickered down to the pendant weighing on his neck, hidden by the folds of his robes. He grabbed the cotton cord and lifted the medallion into his hand, examining it intently. The design etched into the center was a familiar one. A simple. colorless, swirling orb with coiling lines illustrating the wind. The Air Nomad insignia.

Master Monk Guan allowed Raimundo to keep the medallion as it held a reference and physical reminder to his culture and roots. However, Raimundo was not allowed to wear it freely as the Masters would discourage it, on the notion that the medallion was made of metal and that mainly senior monks wore these pendants with prayer beads as a sign of their honorable dedication to high spirituality.

It would be unheard of for Raimundo, as one of the oldest who had not gotten his arrows yet, to wear this medallion without earning it.

As such, Raimundo could only wear it in secret. A rule that even _he_ , was content with upholding.

From the top balcony of the two-story sleeping quarters, Raimundo leaned against the railings, quietly watching the darkened skies up through the circular opening of the stony infrastructure. He tightly clutched the medallion in his hand, running his fingers against the grooves of the cold surface.

His mind floated back to the words of Master Monk Guan and he let out a ragged sigh, releasing the grip on his pendant and letting it fall against his chest.

"We leave and then what happens?" He said quietly, to no one in particular.

Nothing good hardly ever came from leaving.


End file.
